Fire Tale

Sometimes things don't go as planned.

Or maybe they go as planned, but not quite the way you thought.

For weeks we contemplated the task of burning some brush piles in a grassy area north of our house and garden. Over a couple of years my husband has pruned up a lot of trees, most red cedars, and piled the limbs in that grassy area because it was out of the way and not really visible.

We had planned to eventually burn it, but it was not a priority until recently.

This past fall we decided to install a bank of ground-mount solar panels before our electric company met its net-metering maximum -- which is appeared it would meet sometime in November.

After considering a couple of other locations, this spot north of everything seemed the most ideal, given our choices. (The most ideal spot, in truth is an open area a little closer to our house, but it's the most open area because it's over our lateral field.)

So we had to get rid of the brush piles and some standing woody invasive plants before installation. We had already decided to postpone the installation to January, but knew there was no way we could be guaranteed appropriate weather for a burn if we waited.

We needed a perfect day for the burn, i.e. "not windy." Stiff winds are never good for a burn, but our site added a little extra anxiety because the brush piles sat in tall, dry grass with a substantial grove of large cedar trees looming too close for comfort. If you've ever seen a red cedar tree burn, you know why we were concerned. They go up whoosh. If the fire got into those large trees, it would have been hot and furious. No way would we be able to push it back on our own.

We contacted neighbors asking for help with the burn. The area is small so we didn't need many. Four volunteered. Six of us should easily contain it, barring any unexpected gusts of wind.

We watched the weather forecast and a Sunday three weeks ago appeared to be, not ideal, but workable. The high was expected to reach into the 40s and air calm winds. We told our volunteers the burn would begin at 11 a.m. and promised them a hearty lunch after.

We prepared -- rather, my husband did. 

My husband, the wizard, conjuring fire.

He gathered together several pairs of old jeans with which to beat out any escaping flames. All volunteers were asked to bring hand sprayers to douse little flames. We strung more than 200 feet of garden hose from our outdoor tap to the burn area and began by spraying the mowed fire break, making the short dry grass less appetizing to hungry flames and prevent fire from creeping toward the cedar trees. 

We had found two old cans of camp fuel (essentially, gasoline) in our garage and decided to use that to get things going fast. My husband dumped some on one of the brush piles. A match was struck and, fwoomp -- fire. 

But it didn't last long. Once the fuel was burned, little fire was left. The dried grass burned slowly, if at all. 

Contrary to our fears, the fire was not in danger of blazing out of control, things didn't burn easily.

It was maybe a little too cool, a little too damp, and a little too calm. The brush piles were not very dense and just didn't burn. 

We kept trying, though. Eventually we started consolidating the piles. I kept trying to light grass and some piles of dried garden debris near one of the smaller piles. A slight breeze sprang up, giving breath to the flames and sending them toward the wood piles.

The burn took a little longer than we anticipated, but we didn't have a blaze in the cedar trees.

And our volunteers were well-rewarded for their help with a hearty chicken soup lunch topped off with not one, but three kinds of desserts.

We are grateful for helpful neighbors.